Yes, Dahling, I Went to the Symphony.

Armed with kleenex, water, and a full bag of coughdrops, Jon and I attended the Boston Symphony Orchestra on Saturday evening. I had not left the house for two days previously, having made the grievious mistake of admitting to myself that I felt rather ill (once germs are acknowledged they're impossible to stop, I find. Rather like when you stop on the street and respond to a Mormon missionary, they won't leave you alone).

The first piece was a violin concerto featuring some famous violinst - I don't know or care who, really. He's not why I went. The second piece of the performance is what made me shell out (well, Jon paid, actually) $37 for the "cheap seats." I'm not saying it wasn't worth it, but, honestly ..... and the poor elderly gentleman with the delightful accent who was in line in front of us (the joy of will-call tickets, you know) and tried to buy tickets the night of (you'd think such a gamble could pay off with last minute tickets or something) but alas, the BSO only had $50 or $100 tickets left. Good gracious.

Anyway .... it was Shostakovich's 4th Symphony that made me stop in my tracks as I passed by Symphony Hall and call Jon to check for tickets online. I've only been to the symphony one other time in my life - the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (free tickets! hooray for working for nonprofits) - and that's where I first (knowingly) heard Shostakovich. Coincidentally it was the 4th symphony. The thing about #4 is that, though he wrote it in 1936, it wasn't debued until 1961. The story at the time was that Shosta (I refuse to keep typing out his whole name!) was dissatissfied with it and scrapped the whole endeavor. In truth, following the disasterious response to his opera Macbeth (the public loved it, Stalin hated it), he was warned that a performance of #4 could endanger his life and the life of his family. Imagine being killed over music!

Anywho, Symphony No. 4 is quite amazing. I gripped poor Jon's arm quite tightly at the end. The ending is so very sad after all the bombast, terror, and sarcasm of the piece.

The reason I know anything about dear Shosta (and why I'm rather keen to learn more, actually) is because of William Vollmann's 2005 novel Europe Central, which I have posted about last year when I read it. Shosta is one of the main characters in this hightly detailed - but fictional - account of WWII and Stalinist Russia. There are probably plenty of people who couldn't stand it - great books are often like that - but I loved it. If you don't mind a bit of a challenging read, and you like history and great epic drama, do yourself a favor and give it a try!